[jnichols]

A couple of my players are complaining that the BBO hands are not random but have been selected to be "interesting"
I know this is not true, but they are not convinced.
Is there somewhere a description as to how the random hands are generated? Do you use a program like BigDeal?
If not, what algorithm is used to generate random numbers and convert to hands.
Is there a writeup somewhere?

[barmar]

The algorithm is a simple, custom shuffle function built into the BBO server. We have analyzed the hands on numerous occasions and there's no bias.

If you're an ACBL virtual club, you could sign up to get hands from The Common Game. I believe they use BigDeal.